Apparatus for dissolving soluble solids



April 26, 1949. f BLACK 7 2,468,162

APPARATUS FOR DISSOLVING SOLUBLE SOLIDS Filed Aug. 12, 1945 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Fall]. '7

' 26 Y 1 BRINi v 27, 6 STEIRAGE f TANK W gvwe/Mom W%5M April 26, 1949. vA. F. BLACK 2,468,162

APPARATUS FOR DISS OLVING SOLUBLE SOLIDS Filed Aug. 12, 194s 2Shets-Sheet 2 I l h H. uv x i g l- "1 l5 r a: l E a u] A i H PatentedApr. 26, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE OLID Arthur F. Black,Charlotte, N. 0., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Jefferson IslandSalt Company, Louisville, Ky., a corporation of Dela- Application August12, 1946, Serial No. 689,920

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to salt dissolvers and more particularly to saltdissolvers for the making of brine solutions from rock salt.

Rock salt mined in certain sections of the United States is the purestmined and contains only a fractional percentage of insolubles, usuallycalcium sulfate. These insolubles are objectionable in most industriesusing salt solutions. It has been found that salt solutions can be mademore cheaply from rock salt than from evaporated salt by the industriesusing it, provided the undesirable insolubles can be cheaply andefficiently removed from the solutions made from the rock salt. Mostindustries that use brine solutions require saturated solutions of thesame at constant rates of flow.

I-Ieretofore various salt dissolvers have been proposed, such as thoseshown and described in Black Patent No. 2,280,466 and Drake Patent No.2,395,258. The dissolver of the present invention is a novel one withmanifest advantages over these dissolvers, as will more fully appearhereinafter.

It is accordingly an object of this invention to provide a saltdissolver primarily for use in forming saturated brine solutions fromrock salt which will remove undesirable insolubles from the solution.

Another object is to provide such a dissolver which will deliversaturated solutions free of undesirable insolubles at constant rates offlow.

Another object is to provide a dissolver which may be readily, quicklyand efiiciently cleaned so that interruptions to the flow of brine maybe kept to a minimum,

Another and still further object is to provide a dissolver which is ofsimple and inexpensive construction and which may be installed and usedby brine using industries without specially trained personnel.

Other and further objects will appear as the description of theinvention proceeds.

One embodiment of the present invention is shown in the accompanyingdrawings and is described hereinafter for the purposes of illustration.This should in no way be construed as defining the scope of thisinvention and for this purpose reference should be made to the appendedclaims.

In these drawings, in which like reference characters designate similarparts, Fig. 1 is a view partly in section of an embodiment of thisinvention; and

Fig. 2 is a top view of the device shown in Fig. 1, with the filteringmaterial not shown in the filtering chambers to more clearly show thestructure.

Referring to these drawings, Iii is a suitable salt dissolving tank hereshown as of cylindrical shape and provided with a conical bottom ll.Secured to bottom H is drainpipe l2 closed by a suitable valve l3. Tank10 is suitably supported as by legs I4.

Mounted within and adjacent the top of tank It) is gutter member l5having perforated inner and bottom walls. An opening I 6 adjacent thetop of tank It! leads from gutter l5 for purposes that will be morefully described hereinafter.

A salt hopper [1 supported by legs I8 is mounted on the top of tank Inand is so designed that its lower orifice I9 is medially disposed withrespect to gutter I5.

Tank I0 is also provided with openings leading to a float chamber 2 l inwhich is mounted a float 22 operating a valve 23 through rod 24. Wateris admitted to tank Ill through pipe 25 and passes through valve 23 andpipe 26 to a T 21, and thence through pipe 28, which in turn passesthrough the wall of tank in to a junction member 29, Member 29distributes the water to radially disposed pipes 30 which are suitablyperforated along their lengths as at 3|.

Pipe 32 leads from T 21 to valve 33 which is normally closed and is inturn connected by pipe M to drain [2.

Inlet pipe 25 may be provided with a float controlled valve 35 actuatedby a float 36 and connecting rod 3! mounted in a suitable brine storagetank 38 (Fig. 2).

Mounted on tank It is filter housing 39 divided into two filter chambers40 and M by a medial wall 42. Wall '42 terminates short of the bottom ofthe housing 39 to form in conjunction with screens 43 and 44 a sump orsettling chamber 45. Screws 43 and 44 are removably supported by medialwall 42 and brackets 43 and 44. Chamber .5 is provided with a drainvalve 46.

Filter housing 39 is so disposed with respect to tank It that opening I6is adjacent the top of chamber 40. An opening 4! is let into housing 39below opening I6 to connect chamber 4| through pipe 48 with the storagetank 38.

Suitable filter material, such as sand or gravel which may be ofgraduated particle size, is placed in chambers 40 and 4| and extends inchamber 40 from screen 43 to just below opening it and extends inchamber 4| from screen 44 to just below opening 41. I have found thatoptimum filtering results are obtained when the filter material inchamber Ml is of coarse particle size than that in chamber 4|.

Tank It may be provided with a suitable verflow pipe 39 leading fromadjacent the top of gutter l and disposed above opening iii;

When salt solution is required rock salt is loaded into hopper El andwater admitted to pipe As the rock salt passes downwardly in tank iii,it is dissolved by the counter fiowing Water from pipes 3% and isdissolved. By the time the solutiOn enters utter i5 and p sses throughopening l 6, it is in supersaturated condition with impurh tiesincluding calcium sulfate contained therein. This brine at 60 F. usuallytests l0l-l02 salometer or 1.206 to 1.210 specific gravity, as opposedto the fully saturated solution at this temperature testing 100saloineter or 1.204 specific gravity. The brine passes through openingit and down through the filter material in chamber it and through screen43 into sump 35. The excess salt and insolubles cling to and crystallizeon this filter material and the insolubles further adhere to thiscrystallized salt deposit so that when the brine enters sump &5 it islargely free of the salt particles and insclubles that were held insuspension. From sump 45 the brine passes upwardly through screen 34 andthrough the r filter material in chamber ll where whatever re mainingsalt particles and insolubles in suspension in the brine are removedbefore the fully .and quickly cleaned by flushing out with throughvalve' lt.

Tank 19 may be efficiently and easily cleaned byopeuing valve l3 andvalve '33. The ensuing flushing action will Wash all salt out of tankWhen the demand for brine is less than the rate of supply, storage tank33 will fill and float 36 will rise, closing valve 35, shutting off thesupply of water to tank ill, and the formation of the brine solutionceases until the demand lowers the supply in storage tank 38 and valveis again opened.

If for any reason valve does not operate or if the rate of flow throughfilter chambers and 4| is retarded so that the level of the solution intank l0 rises above the height of opening it, then the height of thesolution in float chamber 2! is raised and float 22 is actuated to closevalve 4 i 23 and shut off the water supply. Overflow pipe ts is providedto protect the device in case of failure of valve 23.

It will now be apparent that by the present invention I have provided anovel salt dissolver for forming saturated salt solutions from rock saltin which undesirable insoluble impurities and salt in suspension areefficiently removed from the brine; in which the saturated salt solutionis delivered at uniform rates of flow; which may be easily, quickly andefliciently cleaned with minimum interruption to the flow of brine; andwhich may be installed and used by industries Without specially trainedpersonnel.

Changes to or modifications of the device described above may now besuggested to those skilled in the art Without departing from the conceptof my invention. Reference should be had to the appended claim todetermine the scope of my inventive concept.

What is claimed is:

In a dissolver of the class described, a dissolving tank, a hopper atthe top of said tank, perforated radially disposed pipes adjacent thebottom of said tank for introducing water into saidtank, a conduitsupplying Water to said radially disposed pipes, a float control valvein said conduit responsive to the height of the solution in said tank, anormally closed flushing valve in the bottom of said tank, a lineleading from said canduit to above said flushing valve, a normallyclosed valve insaid line, a gutter adjacent the top of said tank, filterhousing secured to the outside of said tank, a partition in said filterhousing and terminating short of the bottom of said filter housing, twovertically disposed filter chambers formed in said housing, a settlingchamber formed in said housing beneath said filter chambers, an openingin the wall of said tank adjacent and above the bottom of said gutterand opening into one of said filter chambers, screens closing thebottoms of said filter chambers above said settling chamber to supportfiltering medium in said chambers, a solution storage tank, and a pipeleading to said storage tank and opening into the other of said filterchambers.

ARTHUR F. BLACK.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 577,068 Quinn Feb. 16, 18972,280,466 Black Apr. 21, 1942 2,395,258 Drake Feb. 19, 1946

